1,000 assault weapons that day if he wanted to cash and carry. no background check. >> eliot: john, we only have ten seconds left. you could also then, of course buy the clips with ammunition that would fill the ar-15 and fire off how many rounds in ten seconds? >> police officers carry 13 rounds. congress says it is fine for criminals to carry 100 without an i.d. or background check. >> eliot: gotta stop there. john rosenthal, thanks for coming on. i wish congress would listen to you. that's "viewpoint" for this week. have a grererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererere [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, hey, hello everybody. [ music ]

o you all across this great land of ours from our radio studio and t.v. studio here on capitol here in washington, d.c. a new poll shows that the most unpopular senator in the entire country is republican leader mitch mcconnell. he's got only 37% favorable rating in his own home state of kentucky, but mcconnell says, that's not true. and he accuses, believe it or not. he accuses president obama of cooking the polls. what a lose her. he's in total denial. yeah. have you ever heard him speak? have you ever looked at him? no wonder he is so be popular. we will talk about that and mosh. first, standing by, lisa ferguson with today's news update. hi, lisa. >> hey, bill. good morning everyone. big news of the day, susan rice is choosing to withdraw her name

for consideration of secretary of state. president obama will meet with the u.n. ambassador at the whitehouse today. she made a surprise announcement yesterday and told nbc's brian williams she did wanted any confirmation hearing to destract from president obama's agend ae. she said those of you who know me i am a fighter but not at the cost of what's right for our country. she penned an op-ed with a similar sentiment. this decision coming on the heals on a waiveve of criticism following her television attacks following the attacks in pecan pecan benghazi. she said it's manufactured charges that gave a false picture of her character and that she was simply filling in for hillary clinton on those television shows and never meant to mislead the american people. now that rice's name is out of the running, obama's next top choice is likely senator john

kerri. he has so far had no comment but he is a pick that republicans wanted especially john mccain who has been grilling rice on those t.v. appearances ever since september. last night mccain's spokesman said he thanks rice for her services and wishes her well but will continue looking for facts about what happened during that benghazi. more "bill press" coming up and live in our chat room at current/basepress. see you there. matter. >> i work with adults with developmental disabilities. growing up i had a single mother of four and people in the community were so helpful when they didn't even have much themselves. seeing people and their hardships made me want to make a difference in people's lives to give them hope. receiving a masters degree would open the doors for me to get into a management position where i would be able to do more for

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[ music ] >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current t.v. this is the bill press show. >> susan rice decides to throw it in and america is the big lose her. good morning, everybody.

what do you say? believe it or not, it's finally friday. hello. hello? friday. hello. hello ♪ alleluia. ♪ >> bill: wow. how long have we been doing this? about five years? >> sorry. i had something cued up every day. >> the same day every week. >> bill: it's friday, december 14th. ♪ alleluia. ♪ >> i have forgotten a few times >> bill: our favorite day around "the bill press show." ♪ alleluia. ♪ >> bill: hell on 0, dan. set the alarm. >> peter: rusty on the board this morning. look at him. you know what? >> bill: has there ever been, by the way, you know, we are always trying to see friday get here. has there ever been a friday when you say i'm sorry it's friday. can't we go a couple of more

days this week? i don't remember one >> peter: i don't think i have ever had that that. talk radio, fridays. we love to see them. we love to see you this friday morning, december 14th. thanks for joining us. it's the "full-court press." we are booming out to you live from our nation's capitol, washington, d.c. where nothing ain't happening. how do you like that? on a friday morning or any day of the week this week. congress, in fact, john boehner went home to ohio. he doesn't give a damn about the fiscal cliff. to the extent there is any news from washington. susan rice is news. we will bring you the news here from our nation's capitol around the country and around the globe, bringing it out to you on your local progressive talk radio station if you are lucky enough to have one on sirius xm this hour only and on current tv all three hours. we will tell you what's going on give you our take on it, and then give you a chance to sound

off at 866-5 press. you are going to want to talk about susan rice. did she do the right thing? did president obama do the right thing by accepting her decision if, indeed it really was her decision. lots to talk about today by the way you can join by phone at 866-55-press. turn your phone off, bill, before you go on the hairair. hello. hello. on twitter at bp show. >> dan is missing the alleluias. >> dan: i think i have been haven'ted indicated. my phone is off. >> bill: entails train wreck peter: what can i screw up >> bill: you will. on facebook.com bill press show. a couple of special features the big photo defendant obamas and the presses at the whitehouse a week ago.

it's a great christmas shot, i think. >> it's very good >> bill: festive. check it out. the president and first lady are looking fine. carol and i squeezed in between. find that on facebook. >> we will tweet it out here in a moment. >> bill: my column is up, my latest column posted about anon inscal in scalia must recuse himself from the cases in the supreme court because of some of the things he has said about homo sexuality an especially earlier this week. check that out. we have the team here this morning, peter ogburn and dan henning. more or less hearre. >> cyprian boulding videographer, extra order narrative on the job as always. inaire

on the job as always. we let the day go by yesterday. >> come on. we. >> we missed the day yesterday. right? it was a very special day. >> this is your birthday song. it's not going to last too long. hey. >> hey. john boehner before he went home to ohio, he had to chime down on his birthday song for peter ogburn? >> yesterday was my birthday. i went way out of the way to make sure i didn't mention it. >> bill: i am like that. i tried to go out of town for my birthday. i usually do. you know, that's the way it works, though, for your real birthday is for your real friends. right? >> right. right. right. >> bill: those who are not really your friends but just pretend to be, they come a day later. >> there you go. the sentiment is appreciated. >> bill: happy birthday. when you were little, was this your birthday, too? >> yeah. we would celebrate it all week when i was young

>> bill: you are so close to christmas, it must have the been a bumper? >> me and jesus get upset because our birth days are so close together >> bill: damn the same birthday as that ogburn brat. >> true story, my mother forgot my birthday yesterday. my mother forgot my birthday. >> bill: no? >> yes. she did. yes, she did. >> bill: she forgot? >> so it was an awkward phone call when i called her last night. >> bill: to say, hey? >> how is it going? how is everything? going to see you over christmas? getting excited? yeah, yeah, yeah. awesome. and i didn't say anything to the very end and i just said i just wanted to thank you for birthing me on this day so many years ago. and she said -- and my mother very sweet christian woman never curs, she said oh f. she completely forgot completely forgot. >> bill: i can understand but i

have never forgotten one of my kids' birthdays, i must say. they wouldn't let me. all right. we've got to talk about susan rice. we have a lot of help this morning, ed smith, president of ulico. he is ramped up about what happened in wisconsin and also in bangladesh with the wal-mart and the big fire ed smith. can't wait to talk to him. one of the reporters in from huffington post and congressman keith eliston from minnesota will be along as well. but first. >> this is the full court press. >> on this friday, other headlines, award nomination season continues, the biggest nominations to date were announced yesterday, those for the golden globes all about "lincoln" on the movie side. steven speak he will's moreover movie up for seven. and jango, and zero dark 30. noticeabley appearbsent from the

list, "skyfall," "anterior cranial vault remodeling avengers. >> 589 of batman. >> surprising that these mothers that moviesat that aren't yet, but zero dark 30 and jango. >> the world will not end on december 21st. nasa took the time to debunk the mayan prophecy the world is supposed to end next week. nothing from outer space is headed our way and the sun is not in danger of exploding. they have confirmed it. the space agency says it gets hundreds of e-mails daily asking about the end of the world so decided to release a scientific video to debunk the claims and put us all at ease. >> bill: i won't believe it until december 22nd. >> yeah. if we wake up on december 22nd, i will be convinced. >> .

>> things are getting a little more liberal. >> december 22nd, but i haven't heard from united that the flight has been cancelled yet. >> things are getting a little bit more liberal at harvard. the university has approved the first student bondage club, raw story reports the club's constitution states there will never be any sexual contact. >> bill: not in class. amount club. >> this is a club. this is a college -- a college-sanction would club. all clubs have to be approved by the university. they say in the constitution there will never be any sexual contact of any kind during meetings. they only wanted to educate students about alternative sexual lifestyles. >> harvard university. >> why would you go the true and have no sexual contact? you just like wearing a ball gag in your mouth. >> not at all. not allowed. >> bill: i am not the good. a step in the right direction,

but, you know, those liberal arts colleges. yeah. all right. man, the news hit yesterday afternoon like a bomb nuclear bomb here in washington, d.c. when the word got out that susan rice, the beleaguerred susan rice had decided, with the announcement at any rate that she did not want any longer want to be a candidate for secretary of state. she withdrew her name from consideration. she made the statement the president put out -- she put out a statement. the president put out his statement regretting the fact that, phrasing her regretting what happened, and then susan rice went opinion 30 rock with brian williams to explain her decision. she insisted it was her decision and she decided this is what was best for the country. >> today i made the decision that it was the best thing for our country, for the american people, that i not continue to

be considered bly the president for nomination of secretary of state because i didn't want to see a confirmation process that was very prolonged, very politicized, very distracting and very disruptive because there are so many things we need to get done as a country. >> that's a big get for rock center >> bill: right. in terms of getting primo coverage for her, it was the best and for them, it was huge. and she also said she would have been -- she would have loved to have been secretary of state. >> i would have been very honored to serve in that job, just as i am delighted to do what i am doing. but, yeah, sure. how can you not want to -- in my field, serve at the highest possible level. >> bill: she does regret that the a decision like this which shouldn't have anything to do with dirty partisan politics became a political football.

>> in a sad place, frankly, when national security national security officials who were sitting in your their jobs serving the american people every day and potential candidates for secretary of state get caught up in a political vortex >> bill: could not have setaid it better. what do you think about it? 866-55-press. i think it's a sad day for america. many reasons. i talked with jennifer gran home on the war room current t.v. last night about this. you know, it's sad first of all, because she would have made a great secretary of state. no doubt about it. she will never get the chance now. let's remember she wasn't even no, ma'am natured. we are not talking about a woman who was nominated and then dropped out. right? she was not even nominated. president obama had not even made the decision to nominate her, certainly had not announced it. so it was sad because of what we lose because of not having her as secretary of state.

it's also sad because she was shot down by two people whom i once had a lot of respect for who will become just nothing but negative partisan hour-hungry big-mouth cran senators, of course talking about john mccain and lindsey graham who were politicizing a national tragedy, the murder of an american ambassador. they turned it into a political football and they were using susan rice to try to put all of the blame on benghazi on president obama. it's disgusting. it's just unacceptable what they did. but they got away with it. the third reason i think it's sad is because -- and i was just going to say this up front. i think obama gave up without a fight here. politics, i know, you can't win every battle. i know you have to pick your battles. i hear that. i am sure people were telling the president there. but i think some battles are

worth fighting. i think this was a battle worked fighting. i am convinced if he had chosen to fighted, president obama could have won this thing. you know, lie lyndon johnson would do it. he would send that nomination up there, no matter how controversial, challenge them, defy them and start trading votes. he would start making deals. and he would have got 10 that section terri of state that he wanted. but either -- either the white house told susan rice, hey susan, we don't have your back any more. you have to make a statement to get out, which is what i am convinced -- i don't know for sure. but i am convinced that that's the way it happened. or susan rice made this decision independently and the white house said, okay. we accept it. we are not going to try to talk you out of it. either way, i think it's too bad. i think this was a fighted worth fight. tell me your take 866-55-press. i wouldn't rather go down fighting the good fight than not

fight at all. i think president obama should have stuck with susan rice. he should have said, uh-uh, susan, you and me are going go into the fire together and win this thing. i think that's the only way you beat these damn republicans. you never, never cave into them. every time you do, they are going to come back and want more. 866-55-press. a mistake, i believe, to let susan rice drop out of the nomination for secretary of state. let's talk about it here on the "full-court press." >> this is "the bill press show." lives one laugh at a time. >> awe damn, the lights are out! you know what? i'll watch a little television until they come back on. >> only on current tv.

[ music ] >> this is the full court press,

the billses press show live on your radio and on current tv. >> 25 minutes after the hour here on a friday morning in our nation's capitol. people are reeling the announcement yesterday. it looked like she was on her way to becoming the next secretary of state, our u.n. ambassador, susan rice. then john mccain and lindsey graham piled on, and she took her name out of consideration yesterday president obama accepted her decision. before we get to the phones, 866-55-press, nothing is concerned about this at all? >> we are treatweeting with you at bp show. find us online there. a lot of people don't believe that this was orchestrated by barack obama. they think that susan rice is the one that made this decision solely. >> the white house said it was her decision. she said it was her decision. i just want to say that's what they always say.

>> that's what they always say. >> i have my doubts? >> sglet. >> rita says what happened to susan rice was disgusting. nobody knows what obama weren't through. i am not blaming him, period. another personing say, rovian tactics. blame democrats rather than the evil doers who precipitated it. a good comment here from honey bear kelly you are talking about cylinder don johnson would have cracked a couple of skulls to get things done. honey bear kelly says barack obama is not lyndon johnson. the congress critters are not those of the '60s. we are tweeting @bpshow. >> harry reid and dick durbin said susan rice would have been confirmed. susan rice, herself, says she thinks she would have been confirmed but it would have been too long and too ugly a battle. derrick from ellington, connecticut, what do you think? >> listen. i am so disappointed in president obama. you know what is so disheart

disheartening? she was one of the biggest supporters and barack obama has no fight in him. he has you don'tno spine. he should have fought the good fight. >> i agree with that. maybe he figures it's better to fight for some resolution and the tact cuts than for susan rice. >> i think it will gol in a cliff, for half a million dollars. i have no confidence in this guy. leon panet at that. >> yeah. listen, i would love to see her as secretary of defense, and i doubt we are going to see that. i think what's more likely is first of all, i think we will see john kerry as secretary of

state. he would be great. he would be great. and i think what susan rice may become the national security advisor once tom donalin steps down. i certainly hope president obama has another great big plum great big fat job in mind for susan rice. did he do the right thing? our conversation continues when we come back here on the full "full-court press." >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ] say -- maybe it was starve the beast. i'll look it up during the break. now at 9 and noon eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up.

great big fat job in mind for

>> chatting with you live at current.com/billpress current.com/billpress. this is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey, if you like fridays, you got one. friday december 14, '33 minutes after the hour coming to you

live from our nation's capitol. we are talking about susan rice. either she made the decision -- to the fits cal cliff. she decided to jump off or was shoved off but she has taken her name out of consideration for secretary of state. should president obama have encouraged her to stay and fight the good fight? 866-55-press. back to that in just a second. it's that time of the year when your credit card gets a little thinner because you are using it so much swiping it so much and findtion it hard to pay those bills at the end of the month. if you are looking to earn some extra money each month, something you ought to consider is income at home.com. they are america's leading work-from work-from-home business doing business in over 80 countries. they know what they are doing and are offering you an opportunity you can readily take advantage of no matter your age, education or experience. earn money from your own kitchentable 247. so, you ought to at least try it. check it out if you are sick of

living paycheck to paycheck and worried about job security or retirement. if your goal has been to open some money from home part-time or full-time, income at home.com. they are giving away a thousand bucks to somebody just for checking them out. >> that's incomeathome.com on twitter, on facebook in the chat room. peter? >> peter: a lot of noise being made about something you have been watching closely, my home state of south carolina. yesterday, they put out early in the day that they would not be making a senate appointment to replace outgoing senator jim demint. not yesterday but coming soon. nikki haley put on facebook crushed the hopes and dreams saying it was not going to be steven colbert. >> my god. first, we lose susan rice and now we lose susan colbert. i am move to go canada. >> peter: she put up a fake statement on facebook and said she is not going to go appoint

him because he once slapped a baby with pup parker county which is not true. that was her attempt at humor. they have floated the name of jimmy sanford. >> the brazil an bomb shell. >> they asked jim demint about how he felt about jimmy sanford and he said she would be great. it might happen. >> wow. that would be the ultimate f.u wouldn't it. >> that announcement has to come soon. >> south carolina, i don't know how anything could, you know peter? >> trust me. i don't hold my head up high. >> bill: sean out in oakland, california. susan rice, what do you think? >> bill, i am so pissed and

disappointed in this president. i can't believe that he caved once again. he was so weak and i'm sorry i voted for this man because he has no spine whatsoever. lindsey graham or john mccain? really? i'm sorry i voted for this man. >> bill: don't be sorry you voted for him. i think this is a fight he could have won. i think it's a wishfight he should have fought >> caller: he is weak and it's like the first time when he caved on the single pair. >> bill: we have seen him cave before. i love him. but i am not going to hesitate to say when he is wrong. i think he is wrong. i saw him. i was at that news conference right after the election when somebody asked him about susan rice and he was on fire. he came out and he said, don't

mess with her. if you have a problem, mess with me. i think they thought it would cost too much political capitol. a lot of people said look, president obama should not waste too much political capitol on susan rice. i kept saying no no, no. he's got to fight this fight. he decided not to. i think it's a big mistake. veronica in onianta, new york. >> hi, bill how is it going? okay. number one, first of all, the republicans don't believe in the american people because they don't do a darn thing they want what they want to support theirina theirina gentry a. >> bill: the realvilleages are john mccain and lindsey graham >> caller: absolutely. they did it on purpose.

they just pouring salt in the obama's wrong says what they likedon to do >> bill: that turned this tragic association of an american ambassador to a political football >> caller: did anyone think susan rice, herself, did not want to go through all of this stress on her family and herself as well? >> bill: well, yeah, but, you know veronica, i still think she would have loved to have been secretary of state and i think she would have made a great secretary of state. susan rice is tough. i think you race an interesting question, but my gut tells me that susan rice was more ready for this fight just yesterday there was some debate on the security council, and the china he's representative said something. i forget what it was. "new york times" reports it this morning and susan rice says, "0 that's ridiculous ".

i mean in terms of diplomatic-speak, she is nothing for being rough and tumble. she doesn't take any crap which is ideal some people don't like her. it's why i love her. thanks veronica. john, out in ferndale washington. >> that's in california? >> it's washington state. >> you got it. i am going to be mindful of the words you can't say on the radio >> bill: you can't either, john >> caller: callers, as well as yourself, let's go over the record quickly. shra they were afraid from glenn beck was going to do a program on her, threw her under the bus. acorn right under the bus. i wonder, has, you know, has -- did you ever see the front line special on pbs when barack obama was the harvard law

review, they talked about how he caved into the conservatives at the harvard law review. i just wonder: does this man have any fight in him let me cylinder see graham and john mccain mall make crazy accusations. they would have ended up looking foolish. i voted for this man because i want him to fight these idiots. >> bill: iamen. i could add a couple of fights he didn't fight. somebody mentioned earlier the public option to the healthcare legislation. it would have taken some political capitol but i think it was worth fighting for because with these bullies, if you don't stand up to them, they are not

going to take one victory and walk away. they are going to sense that you are weak and come after you again and again and again. you know, there is an analysis, i think, in the washington post or in "the new york times" this morning saying, well the president decided, you know, he knows he is going to have to really fight for healthcare. i mean for immigration reform and he's really going to have to fight for global climate change. okay? and so he knows he has to fight for those. so he figures he will give up the susan rice fight. my point is, it's going to be harder to get climate change and harder to get immigration reform and harder to get anything else because he gave up on susan rice. that doesn't -- when you point it makes you weaker in my humble opinion which ain't so humble. paul in anchorage, alarms. >> alaska.

>> amen. he is a bully he needs to take them on now. he needs to say it's going to be a different administration. i have the political capitolal and start from day 1, this is how it's going to be. you wanted to play stupid games, you want to be a bunch of political hacks, fine. i will start the battle now. everybody needs to call the bill press. i e-mailed the president at least 10 times because he got elected because i volunteered for his campaign and donated to the campaign. everybody needs to call their congressman, which i do, too, and contact the president and give him some support and say, look, you need to stand up to these idiots on the right and be like f.d.r. and harry truman and lyndon johnson. >> bill: amen. absolutely paul. >> that's the fight. two years in this second term to get something done. and this was the first. this was really the first challenge, and i'm sorry to see him back away from it.

866-55-press is our toll-free number. susan rice would have made a great secretary of state. john kerriykerrilyl make a great secretary of state. welcome out all right but we lose the services of susan rice and give in to these republican bullies and i hate to see lindsey graham and john mccain and their divisive ugly mean politics win the day. but they did. >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show." [ music ] comics i could find. my comedian friends and i will raise money to rebuild homes and lives one laugh at a time. >> awe damn, the lights are out! you know what? i'll watch a little television until they come back on. >> only on current tv.

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on your radio and on current tv this is the bill press show. >> bill: all right. we got it now 13 minutes before the top of the hour here on the "full-court press," at the top of the next hour reid epstein from politico will be in and congressman keith i will ison from minnesota. yesterday, at the whitehouse briefing, it was sort of a boring briefing. there was nothing going on the fiscal cliff brunch boehner had announced he was going home to ohio for the weekend. it looks like things had shut down and nothing on the nomination front. no news about the secretary of defense. there was a no-news briefing. suddenly wow bombs dropped all over the place, susan rice dropping out and john boehner heading down to the white house for a 50-minute meeting with president obama before he left

forshire for ohio. ryan grimm joins us. we would love a thursday afternoon like that one? >> good times >> bill: back to our word pros prosprocessors prosprocessors. shooting stuff out there. let's start with susan rice. did president obama just decide, i've got a lot of battles in front of me. this is one i don't want to fight? >> i think it was some of that, but i think she percentage decided she didn't want to go forward with it from what i heard and what she said was that i think she started getting bothered by the trans-canada stuff. she had a million dollars worth of stock intrans canada which is, you know, even her defenders saw that and wait a minute. translate canada is the oil company basically that wants to

pump tons of gunk up from the tar sands to southern louisiana so they can ship it out and try to sell it. >> the famous keystone pipeline which she, as secretary of state would have to rule on. right? >> exactly. so, you know, when a company's biggest decision rests in her hands and she owns millions of dorthworth of it, it was like, okay. she could have divested, put it in a blind trust, but i think that see saw that as a sign of more things to come. she hadn't even been nominated yet. >> bill: right. >> now she is getting hit with this stuff. maybe she thought to herself, this is going to get much much worse before it gets better >> bill: it's also clear, though, isn't it, ryan? and you and i may read between the lines differently. i think she was told, you know,

too many problems here please make this statement. whatever. if it was her decision when she informed the white house of her decision, thing didn't try to talk her out of it. >> and it's irrelevant relevant who came up with the idea first because the idea was out there. ultimately, it's up to the president. if she calls him up and says mr. president, this is too difficult for me. it's too hard. i can't do this. i would like to withdraw my name, he can very easily say, you know this is your -- i am the president, i am going to stand by you 100% and, boom. >> that's the president telling you that. she could maybe still have the fortitude to say no but most people presented with that are going to say, mr. president, om okay. i am in. you are right. that did not happen. >> how did this -- what do we know because again, at the

briefing yesterday boehner had had the news kong friends in the morning where he once again said, we are ready to deal but the white house is not ready to deal. they won't come up with any specifics, which i think is just bs. that's what he said yesterday morning. he announces. jay carney says there it is. nothing happening on that front. suddenly boehner shows up at the whitehouse. how did that come about? >> we know pretty well about what happened yesterday. >> yeah. >> boehner is not in a in a great spot. the polls are against him. half of his caucus is against him. taxes rise on the rich. polls showing republicans aren't with them. they are dying on the hill for it. what he is laying down is so

illogical that he just is the collapsing under the weight of it. look, the president will not tell us what he is willing to cut. the president is not saying he wants to the cut anything. all he did was extend tax cuts the bottom 98% and raise him on the top 2 and punt on the sequester and be done with it. the president isn't clamoring for medicare and social security cuts. he probably would agree to some type of cuts in order to get whaechts. ideal on earth would he be the one it makes so little sense i think it's collapsing in its own weight. >> boehner keeps saying it over and over again. to me, anytime he says it t it looks like he believes it less.

of course, so far as we know nothing was accomplished by this meeting yesterday. i think it's clear going back two years ago we have learned nothing is going to be accomplished by any meetings between john boehner and president obama because boehner can't deliver the votes in his own caucus. >> right. it depends upon for what. >> yeah. >> there is a huge difference though i think between 2011 and now besides the election and obama seems to have some fire in his belly. it's that boehner is out there negotiating with his leadership at his back. everybody is like can'torp mccarthy, boehner, they are all doing this together. you are not hearing much from the freshman. 2011, boehner was meeting secretly cantedor was knifing him to the press. >> bill: that is a big

difference. we will see in boehner will join the weekend in ohio and the rest of the people just twiddling their thumbs. ryan grim, you are on top of it, thank you for joining us this morning. huffington post, bureau post huffington post.com. >> this is "the bill press show."

ñv i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look

out for us. [ music ] >> this is the bill press show >> bill: all right. robert e-mails in: while we are in remorse over susan rice's decision, lindsey graham and i see ilk are boasting they slapped a woman. wanda says, bill don't forget how republicans tried to

railroad eta head lisa jackson for no reason at all. mary as, with a few sentences, susan rice displayed her true contact character. she made small men look smaller. too bad. susan rice, she would have made a great secretary of state. >> this is "the bill press show." kkk adopt a

>> susan rice dropping out of consideration for secretary of state, which means that the get guys lose and the bad guys lindsey graham and john mrk cain, win. what i want to know is: why wasn't wasn't president obama willing to fight for her all the way to the end? i think it's better to fight and lose than not fight at all. >> that's our debate on the "full-court press." we will get back in to it. but first, we take time out to get today's current news update from lisa ferguson. >> bill, good morning. a couple of other notes on susan's rice's decision to take her name out of the running. this puts senator john kerry as the top contender. one of the reasons republicans

want him there is that would give scott brown a chance at the upper chamber. if he doesn't, due value patrick, a democrat, will appoint a temporary replacement until the state holds a special election to fill that seat. the vote must take place during a specific time frame, no sooner 145 days and no later than 160 days after kerry leaves his seat. that means if kerry takes clintonts place directly after the inauguration massachusetts must hold that e lessen between june 13th and june 28th. this puts brown back in the running, who lost his seat to elizabeth warren last month. as for thecrats ed marky is likely their top choice. back to john kerry. he was originally the frontrunner for secretary of defense but now that susan rice has dropped out, clearing a path to secretary of state we will likely see chuck hagel take over

the penitentiary pentagon. he is a republican, but he is known forthrowing elbows at members of his own party and he did travel with obama when they were senators. now, we will have more bill press coming up for you after the break, more discussion over susan rice, and we will hope to hear what you think of that in our chat room. join us there at current.com/billpress. see you there.

[ music ] >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the bill price show. >> susan rice goes over the cliff. did she jump, or was she pushed? good morning, everybody.

big question of the day here on bill press show this friday morning, december 14th. great to see you. thank you for joining us wherever you happen to be in this great land of ours, booming out to you live from our nation's capitol hill down the street from the united states capitol building where nothing is going on. john boehner went home to ohio to the weekend but the big news, of course, mostly about susan rice and her putting out a statement saying she no longer wished to be candidate for secretary of state. we get your comments here if you can join us by giving us a call at 866-55-press. >> that's the old fashion way. we will take your calls and try to get as many as we can on the air. follow us at facebook.com/bill press show. joined in the studio. by a man on top much everything

happening here at the white house and up on this end of pennsylvania avenue reed epstein, politico reporter for politico. >> a mouthpiece. isn't it. >> this early in the morning. peter ogburn and dan henning. >> hey hey. >> good morning >> bill: friday. i love friday. phil bachus has the phone. cyprian boulding as always. everybody thinks susan rice is the big story of the day. the big story of the day was actually rob parker from espn. first show -- first take? he goes after the most popular redskins player, rg3. >> one of the most popular

players in the nfl >> bill: this phenomenal quarterback but rob parker says he's not black enough? >> this all started with rg3 said i don't want to be seen as a black quarterback. i want to be seen as a quarterback. so rob parker weighed in on that. >> bill: yesterday questioning -- this is on espn, questioning whether rd3 is black enough? >> my question is a straight honest question: is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother? not really, okay? black, does the thing but he is not down with the cause, not one of us. he is kind of black. he is not really like the guy you want to hang out with. >> bill: a cornball brother. have you ever heard that phrase? >> i have never heard the from a i see he has a white fiance and doesn't want to be defined as a

blackman? >> there is some suspicion he is a republican. >> bill: oh, my god. >> that's it. he is not even the first black redskin to have something like that this. before do you go williams he was asked how he had been a black quarterback for. >> bill: isn't this the same thing like tiger woods didn't want to be known as a black golfer? >> right. >> bill: president obama. >> do you go williams wrote a book calmed "quarter black." >> so congressman thomas has a caucasian wife. is he black enough? >> it's interesting >> bill: who is black enough and who is to say that you are or you are not.

>> peter: exactly. who is going to say you are black enough or white enough? it's sort of a weird conversation to have played out on espn. it is when it seems to me that their whole job is to talk about sports and who is good and who is not and who is winning and who is not. you have to argue that rb3 is on top of the world. >> that's the only thing they ought to be talking about. >> who cares. >> bill: but it's stirring up a lot, a lot, a lot of comment this morning. we wanted to share that with you. reid epstein from politico. keith ellison from minnesota will be joining us a little bit later. ed smith, who is the president of ulico, one of the sponsors of our show, will be along in the next hour to talk about right to work in michigan and unsafe working conditions in bangladesh. but first. dan with the big story of the day. >> other head likes making news a big shake-up in college sports, seven schools have decided to leave the big east

conference. they are all catholic de paul, market, providence seaton hall and villain offa where basketball is their primary sport, not football. 17 schools have left the big east since 2004. it's a mass exodus. 10 schools remain in the conference. no word positive where these 7 catholic schools are headed >> bill: where are they going? form form a catholic leave? >> they are leaving when looking up directions on your iphone you can now actually find your way again. google maps is available as a download in the appear store. a.m. gave in after it's maps were a failure. you can remove them. you can't delete your apple but put it on the last page of your desktop screen. iphone users have been without the most popular mapping service for three months. it's back as of yesterday afternoon entails i will download google maps but i must

tell you, i get to holiday parties, i used the appear. >> ended up in the potomac river. >> no. t worked perfectly. i don't know what the flap is all about. >> i have to say i used a.m. maps since i got the 5 probably 20 times, and it really burned me two times out of 20. so. >> that's pretty good. >> most of the time it works but when it didn't it screwed me up. i downloaded google maps yesterday. they improved the whole map function. >> it's much easier like three extra clicks on the apple maps >> bill: really? okay. >> i say prove. >> despite dangers more and more americans are texting and walking at the same time. a new university of washington study finds one in three people text on their phones while crossing busy streets resulting in 60,000 injuries a year and 4,000 deaths.

that's 4,000 people dying, being hit by a car because they have been texting while walking. majority of people texting are the checking e-mail on their phones while walking between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. week day mornings. >> i must say, guilty as charged. >> me, too. >> bill: i don't text what i mean driving, but i do text and it's a matter of time before i walk into a bus. i have walked into people. >> peter: i text and walk all the time. i can honestly say i have never had that problem. i have never walked into the street while texting. if you are going to do that, you are probably going to get hit by a bus anyway because you are going to be doing something else. >> bill: it's a matter of time peter. seriously. it's a distraction. do you ever do it? >> i have texted while being on a radio show before. >> bill: you just did it. >> that's dangerous. >> bill: that's dangerous. >> you might get hit by a bus. you will certainly get thrown

under it. >> bill: sol reid we were at the whitehouse yesterday, had a briefing and a little holiday party party. it was fun but there was no news. nothing new on fiscal cliff. all we heard was that john boehner was leaving for ohio and there was knowingnothing new. it was the same ol' stuff from carney and nothing new on appointments either. nothing and then boom, at 4:00 o'clock, boom. >> allotted of no specifics to offer until there were a lot of specifics to offer >> bill: we have been talking about susan rightses. let's start about this meeting with president obama and john boehner. >> we don't know specifically who made the first call but boehner was there for 50 minutes between about 5:00 and 6:00 o'clock o'clock. they had what they characterized as a frank discussion and they both putting it out identify

calling statements praising open lines of communication and nothing else. i us expect when jay carney takes the podium it will be similar to what he said yesterday. >> bill: don't you think that that meeting that could not accomplish anything unless he said you get -- we agree. tax rates have to go up for the 2%? >> the beginning. >> at least from the president's side. boehner can't do that unless he has half of his caucus behind him or he won't be speaker. >> there ain't going to be any deal? >> that's where we have been. >> bill: right. you can't have something with just enough republican support because he would be deposed. it would be easy for the republicans to replace him with somebody like tom price of georgia or whoever who is more

hard-line than boehner might be if he were to give on the tax rates >> bill: the american people want this. the majority of republicans, according to most polls even want this meaning not only a tax cut for the 98 percents but tax rates go up for the wealthiest of americans. democrats andin the senate. the president wants it. the republican tea party caucuses doesn't want it and so they are not going to give. if they don't, there won't be a deal? >> the thing to remember these guys, the republican house members who all were elected, it you know, a month ago just like the president was all were elected on a platform of not raising taxes under any circumstances whatsoever the way that the congressional districts were drawn there is enough -- the republicans in the house and the democrats in the house too have more to fear from a primary challenge from their own party than they do from the other -- from the middle.

intel unless they care what's best for the country, i might add? >> above and beyond, it's fair to say, i think, everyone on the capitol cares about getting re-elected before they care about anything else. >> that's the biggest incentive and the biggest fear is the primary challenge, and that's why you see, you know, people become more conservative or more liberal in the years before an election. >> bill: why don't they just quit playing the game and just say, hell, no. we are not going to deal. let's go over the cliff. that, in effect, that's what they are saying. they are saying we would rather go over the cliff than break our pledge to grover norquist. >> i think they are close to that. it's not even grover norquist but, you know, it's easy enough to, you know, run a campaign against, especially a republican, by saying, he raised your taxes and i won't. and that's, you know, with the money that could be at someone's

disposal from places like growth, americans for prosperity, let alone grover morequist morequist, you have a danger from the extremes of the party from anyone who would go along with the president. we saw grover norquist tweeted out of the oyotube video saying he raised your taxes and i didn't. >> so what i come -- my takeaway from what you just said is there is not going to be a deem. we are going to go over the cliff. taxes will go up for every single american taxpayer january 1st and the republican party is going to get the blame. why is that smart politics? >> well, you know, i think that every day that there is no deal, every day that there is no visible movement toward the deal, we are closer to that happening. i think one of the scenarios that has been out there that it seems more and more likely is

that we get to january 1st and on january 2nd or so, they come back and pass the >> bill: 98%? >> extension for everyone under $250,000. that still seems like a feasible scenario even if they don't do it before the holidays before new year's. >> bill: in that case taxes will still have gone up for the wealthiest of americans. >> right. >> because of the bush tax cuts expired. expired. >> but in a way >> bill: that they didn't vote for? >> correct. >> bill: before we take a break, we have been getting calls on 866-55-press, if you want to chime in. susan rice, her name is no longer up for -- she wasn't even nominated and we had this whole controversy controversy. did she make the decision, or was the decision made for here by the white house? did she jump or was she pushed. >> by all accounts, it was her decision along >> bill: do you believe that? >> the white house didn't try to talk her out of it.

>> bill: right. >> so you are welcome to read into that what they will about what the president wanted to happen. my sense is that the president was willing to fight for her to the end, but there were certainly a lot of relief as we wrote this morning in the white house, in the west wing, when she came to the decision that she would not be considered. she dropped out of a position that she was not considered for that's not even open. >> bill: which is kind of surreal? >> you know washington 2012 is like. >> bill: should president obama have said, no, susan. we are going to take this fight all the way to the wall? 866-55-press. read epstein here on the friday edition of "the full court press." we will be right back. >> this is "full-court press" live on your radio.

live on current. museum comedians. >> new york, the high-tech resilient city. just don't get us wet. what the hell was that? >> that's from my upcoming benefit for victims of hurricane sandy. i booked the strongest, smartest comics i could find. my comedian friends and i will raise money to rebuild homes and lives one laugh at a time. >> awe damn, the lights are out! you know what? i'll watch a little television until they come back on. >> only on current tv.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] . >> this is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current t.v. >> bill: all right. already 26 minutes after the hour reed epsteed political reporter for politico. talking being susan rice now peter, twitter world, live this morning. >> tweeting at bp show @bp show. sharon more says she got acorn, van jones and sheroded.

the backlash for women and minorities against the g.o.p. might be worth more than having her in the position if you are looking at it from a political standpoint. my pre-dix is susan rice senator or better. 2016 or beyond. >> huffingtonpost.com, their lead story barack obama avoids fight over susan rice. huffington post. politico. politico. >> that's the lead story. some reid, president obama has other battles as you point out. right? to fight? global warming immigration reform fiscal cliff. does this make those battles easier for him having susan rice out of the ways? >> it's one less battle he has to fight for sure. it's not as if susan rice was going away.

she's still going to be, you know, a key member of his national team going forward. we said -- suggested in our story, national security advisor which would not be a position that would require senate approvals approval >> bill: it would be a natural for her. >> and, you know, may even have more power than secretary of state, given that she would be less checked by congress as far as what's going on. and she and the president both in their statements yesterday, suggested that she will remain a part of his team. i think we can expect to see her perhaps even grow in stature based upon this. >> bill: i wish we had more time. john kerry will be the next secretary of state? >> that's certainly, if you are taking bets in town, that's the good money. >> chuck hagle will be the next secretary of defense? >> that was certainly a float put out yesterday. you know we will see whether there is any pushback on that.

certainly, some jewish groups are not terribly thrilled with him. we will see how well that goes >> bill: that's a battle president obama will be willing to make. i guess we will know this early in the next week. from politico political reporter reid epstein. thanks for coming in. >> this is "the bill press show." i've never seen anything like this. >> when disaster strikes sometimes the only way out is to look within. current tv digs deep into the extraordinary tales of heroism determination and escape. "trapped" experience the drama. back to back to back. >> hold on mates! >> catch the "trapped" mini-marathon saturday starting at 1 eastern. on current tv.

[ music ] >> this is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: all right. on a friday, december 14th, here we go, the full court press coming to you live from our nation's capitol, our studio

here on capitol hill. we are talking about susan rice. we have been talking about the fiscal cliff as well and you know, some progressives feel that it's not such bad news that there is no deal on the fiscal cliff because the republicans insist that any deal has to include so-called entitlement reforms and that makes a lot of us, including me, nervous. joining us with his take on all of the above, our good friend, we love having him in studio. we understand he has to go home once in a while. so he is on the line this morning. >> hey, bill. >> from minnesota, congressman keith ellison. how is it going? >> good to be home. i wish i was hanging with you. anyway, good to be talking. >> bill: you can hang with us any time and talk with us anytime. >> chop it up >> bill: chop it up. all right. now, sot congressman, i was very

disappointed to hear susan rice, hear her decision yesterday and to hear president obama accepted her decision. what's your take on this? >> it's so hard to speculate if you are not real close to it, but from where i am looking a good public servant got into the buzz saw and came out worse for it. i think it's too bad. i think susan rice would have done a fine job. at the end of the day, you know, it looks like the road is clear for mr. kerry who i think will also do a fine job, and i am sure scott brown will get a chance to run for the senate again. chock it up to, i guess their little strategy worked. apparently obama calculated that he should fight on other, you know,... >> bill: i have to add that scott brown, if he thinks he is

going to have a agree ride getting back into the u.s. senate because i know ed markey and patrick. i think both would be a formidable candidate. >> that's right. you know they are the -- there is a long way to go before their strategy works, you know. we got some ideas of our own. and so you are absolutely on the mark. ed marker will be great. duval patrick will be great. there is a lot of talent out there in massachusetts >> bill: absolutely. congressman, on this, yesterday at our briefing some of us were pushing jay carney to say, well our entitlement -- republicans say, all right. we may go along with some tax cuts for increase in tax rates. on the wealthiest of americans but only if we get what we want you know on what they always call entitlement reforms. >> right. >> i know you and the progressive caucus have been really all over this issue. should social security and medicare even be on the table?

>> shouldn't be on the table at all. as a matter of fact, there is no reason to be discussing social security and medicare at this time we should talk about how we are going to deal with the deadline that are coming up in the next few days. the social security and medicaid are not part of the deadline that are coming up it's a distraction for american people people to knows they never liked medicare. they always called it socialism. whenever they try to manufacture crises in order to undermine programs that they always opposed anyway. so that's what's going on here. you know, inone those people whoblz it is not fortunate that we cannot work out a deal before the deadline, but we are gotnot

going to go get a bad deal for american seniors people well disabilities and kids on survivor benefits. we are not going to get a bad deal to make any deal. i don't think the american people want that. >> that's not -- some people say it's not a cliff. they want to conjure image reof us falling off rocks. it's not as fatal as going over a cliff. it's image redesigned to evoke panic. >> that's not where we should be at all. >> bill: absolutely. in other words, i hear you are saying no deal is better than a bad deal. right? >> right. absolutely. that is exactly what i am saying. i am also saying this, too. you know these tax cuts we could never afford them. back in 2001 and 2003, they were

bad decisions. the reason for them is that, you know, this guy, arthur lappert, this economist, he says if you cut taxes, people will have more income and they will spend it in the economy and it will make more money. he also says if you tax at a certain rate, it will not work. he is wrong he has no support for what he is saying. he is wrong. he has been proven to be wrong. we need to reject his ideas about the economy. what we know from the congressional budget office, and other important studies if you raise rates on the top income earners, it will not harm growth at all. it will make the government more solve he want. event -- solvent. this is a time where will will be tested. that's one reason we want to see

susan rice get the rug pugged out from under here? i think the president should not signal in any way that he is backing down from these guys. you know i think the signaled should be we runwon the election. we are not backing down. time for you to figure out how to compromise >> bill: we are going to fight on every front. >> i want to say, you know, we have already given 1.7 trillion over the last two years, you know. >> bill: in cuts. right? >> yeah. >> bill: yes. >> we've already done that. now, let's see some compromise. they say they will do 800 billion in revenue. okay. how? they don't say. >> bill: uh-huh. yeah. >> they say something about trying to limit deductions on charitable contributions. >> that's not going to work. but they don't even specify

that. they talk about what ner going to do, they start talking about the ryan budget and they start talking about 800 billion in revenue which we want but doesn't includes raising rates. they are out of their mind if they think that's going to fly. it's not going to fly >> bill: also, when they talk about cuts they are only talking about cuts in social programs. right? >> right. >> bill: they are not talking about any cuts in the defense department. >> they want to wall that up. but i want to give one cran a little credit. me and mulvany, from south carolina got on a letter urging our colleagues to say the military cuts have got to be a part of it. there are some republicans to their credit who acknowledge that we've got to have some cuts in the military. the military has to share in these cuts. i will say most of them are not there yet, but maybe mulvany can round them up. >> bill: i didn't realize. what's the first name?

mulvany. >> it's scott mulvany, he is from south carolina, you know and he and i agree this is an occasion where we can -- we can agree that the military has got to share in these cuts. >> bill: so congressman, here we are, we are on the 14th. right? right? >> yes. >> the mayans say the world is going to end and everything civilization is going to end, the end of the world on the 21st. if that doesn't happen, what do you think is going to happen the end of the year? are we going to have a deal or no deal? >> you know, it's so difficult to prognosticate. i would say that they are going to put some deal in front of us but, you know, but i am not at all certain about that. i wouldn't bet the house on it, you know. i am not a betting person, but if i were i wouldn't lay anything down on it because i am

only saying this, bill because usually, we do come up with some kind of a deal. you know, to solve the crisis you know. >> bill: right. >> usually something happens. and that's the only reason why i am saying something probably will happen. now, you know, it doesn't look like that good. you know, every day boehner comes out with something more obstreperous. he says something a little bit more, you know, he says something a little bit more, you know, just sort of like intransigent. you know, it just sounds to me like things don't look that great. nick mulvany. >> we just looked it up. >> yeah. so, you know, bottom line is that he is saying things accusing obama of not coming up with cuts.

well, of course, obama didn't come up with cuts. we already got 1.7 trillion in cuts. right? >> bill: right. >> why should obama come up with cuts? obama wants revenue. >> bill: right. >> our idea is let it expire. so that's our cut. we got our plan on the table. >> bill: right? >> obtain just doesn't want to smell the coffee. at the end of the day, these people aringe going to say in order to protect the top 2%, they are going to let everybody else's taxes go up. >> that's their attitude. >> bill: looks like that's where it's going. i will i will tell you one thing congressman >> our listeners and viewers are right with us on this issue. we have been talking a lot about it. when i saw the president last week at the holiday party, i told him what our people are saying, which is no deal is better than a bad deal. hold the line, mr. president. that's exactly what you are saying. congressman keith ellison, you are right on. thank you for chopping it up for

us this morning. >> chop it up again soon. >> we will chop it up again. congressman keith ellison from minnesota here on the full court presses. >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ] just don't get us wet. what the hell was that? >> that's from my upcoming benefit for victims of hurricane sandy. i booked the strongest, smartest comics i could find. my comedian friends and i will raise money to rebuild homes and lives one laugh at a time. >> awe damn, the lights are out! you know what? i'll watch a little television until they come back on. >> only on current tv.

i want the people who watch our show, to be able to come away armed with the facts, and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. i want them to have the data and i want them to

have the passion. [ music ] >> shatchatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey, what do you say? twelve minutes now before the top of the hour here on this friday december 14th susan rice and the fiscal cliff, two big

stories of the day. what else is going on >> peter: big story, sterling virginia, a man walked into a wells fargo and robbed the bank. he was wearing a mitt romney mask. >> bill: times are tough for mitt now. >> peter: that's true. >> bill: they have campaign cash going out the windows at the door, rather, to all of his aides who milwaukeed him dryked him dry. >> was it a swiss bank? >> i was about to tweet a link to the story. you can actually see the mitt romney mask as he is robbing the bank. >> bill: don't forget on our website this morning, a couple of special attractions. check it out at billpressshow. on twitter and facebook out there, the photo of carol and i -- carol and me, i guess i should say withpom president and mrs. obama at the whitehouse

last week. i must admit, it came out pretty good. >> looking good. >> festive. my column up with justice scalia and why he should recuse himself from the same-sex marriage case in front of the supreme court. >> that's posted on our website at billpressshow.com and soon be on twitter and faulkner facebook as well. now, on a friday. ♪ >> oh, yeah. >> here we go. we like to take a look back at our favorite sound bytes of the week and bring them up to date to you. our top five, favorite five, talk about them and work our way up to the top on the five on fox the other day, you know, the new movie zero dark 30 comes out in selected theaters next week, all about the osama bin laden raid. bill says he loves

waterboarding. >> like i say waterboarding more like awesome boarding. the unspeakable truth is everybody wants -- they will never say this but everybody wants torture on the table. >> bill: yeah. yeah. everybody. i would like to water board him water board him off of that show. i just mentioned my column on justice scalia with a blatant clear conflict of interest. i am not the only one who has that opinion. how about george take? >> justice scalia needs to consider recusing himself. he is obviously not unbiased. he is clearly biased in this situation. so how can he look at the issue and make a judgment fairly? >> bill: oh, my. >> oh, my. >> george take one and over voice. you can never mistake him on msnbc msnbc the other day, embarrassing when glen hubbard

was on, he was economic advisor to romney not only did campaign collapse on him but the set on cnbc collapsed on him as he was talking. >> number 3, that forces the congress to think about the next between taxes, spending outside of the entitlements and spending on the entitlements. >> that's just not something our framers thought about the because we didn't have a welfare state. >> glen, are you all right? >> i am fine. >> okay. good. good. i apologize for that by the way. you never know what's going to happen. >> that's what happens when you criticize the welfare. >> i love it. bang. boom. he comes up out of the rubble. i am okay. ben nelson retiring from the senate but he's got a head of hair and harry says it's all his. >> number 2. >> that hair of ben nelson's that is a mop of real hair.

it's often that people call his office, neil's. they believe he has a toupe. it's his hair. he will pull on it any time to show you it's real. he has hair like a 15-year-old, mr. president. and so, i have to acknowledge, i am a little envious of his hair. >> that's his hair. ain't no toupe. the 12-12-12 concert to benefit the victims of hundred sandy hosted by billy krystal. >> i think politicians and all of us can learn something not just the best plate place to hoard twinkies. the governor threw politics aside and mitt romney and actually did something for the people of his state. >> yeah. politics and mitt romney. under the bus. there we go. our blitz of the week. thank you, dan.

we will come back. and tell you what the president has on schedule today at the whitehouse. fox news >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is "the

bill press show". >> this is "the bill press show." >> all right. at the whitehouse today, president obama an easy schedule. a lot of time to deal with personnel issues like: who is left as a candidate for

secretary of state can we get john kerry on the phone? can we get john hagle on the phone also dealing with breakthroughs. john boehner went back to ohio. that proves he doesn't give a rat's ass about the fiscal cliff. the president and the vice president will get theirdale briefing and at 12:15 this afternoon, he is seening hr 6156. get this. the russia and muldava jackson bannek repeal and searchie minific e rule of law accountability act. i would love to be there for that. >> obviously. >> just writing that will take him a half an hour. and then this afternoon >> it should be a very interesting meeting at 3:30 this afternoon. he has a one on one in the oval office with ambassador susan

rice. >> awkward. >> yes awkward. what have been up to? susan? what's up? what are you here for? what are you thinking about? at 12:30 this afternoon, jay carney will have his daily white house briefing. i will be there representing all of you. tell you about it on monday. ed smith from ulico at the top of the next hour. >> this is "the bill press show." [ male announcer ] our new maine stays! 15 entrees under $15 seafood, chicken and more! oo! the tilapia with roasted vegetables! i'm actually looking at the wood grilled chicken with portobello wine sauce. that pork chop was great! no more fast food friday's! we're going to go to red lobster. yep. [ male announcer ] come try our new menu and sea food differently! and introducing 7 lunch choices for just $7.99. salad, sandwiches, and more.

[ music ] >> bill: my fellow americans, good morning. good morning. good to see you this morning. welcome to the full contract presses here on current tv, this

friday morning december 14th. good to have you on board as we tackle the big stories of the day and take your calls at 866-55-press. again, the number 1 story of the day sad day for america indeed when susan rice withdraws her name for consideration as to the next secretary of state for the united states. it means that the good guys lose. and the bad guys lindsey graham and john mccain win. what i want to know is: why wasn't president obama willing to go to the mat for here? why wasn't he willing to fight the good fight? better to fight and lose than not fight at all. but that's not the way it came down at the whitehouse. we will talking about that and a lot more here. what's happening in michigan. first the latest with today's current news update from lease a ferguson. hi, lease a. good morning. >> hey, bill. good morning, everyone. still little sign of progress on

the fiscal cliff even after another meeting between pompom and speaker boehner last night. the president called boehner to the white house yesterday and the two spoke for nearly an hour but we are hearing no new word of a compromise. if anything, there are more signs the two are drifting even father apartment. republicans on the hill still say spending is the problem. and they are not willing to budge on tax rates for the upper two %. republican voters on the other hand. they just want to see a deal. according to the latest nbc teeth journal, 60% of republicans want their party leaders to reach a compromise. many are coming down on higher tax rates for the wealthy. when it comes to spending obama told a minneapolis t.v. station that he does not want it to lead to to hire cost for students and seniors. a top senate democrat said

increasing medicare's eligibility age is off the table. leon panet a is on his way out, not before sending 400 u.s. troops to turkey. he signed that order this morning as part of a push to increase defense does against possible syrian attacks. they will man two air defense bat arteries. the pentagon says this is a defensive mention only but it seriously expands the united states role along syria's borders. we will be right back. [ music ] you're about to watch an ad message created by a current tv matter. i've been a nurse since 1979. i love being a nurse. a few years ago a friend i went to grade school with showed me a book she had kept from third grade. i had written that i wanted to be a nurse. after being a nurse for about twenty years i decided that i need to further my education. my masters degree was done completely online and that gave me the freedom and ability to do

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] [ music ] >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv. this is "the bill press show." >> well, susan rice goes over the cliff. the big question is: did she jump, or was she pushed? hey, good morning, everybody. what which do you say?

it is the full court press here on this friday december 14th. we are coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours, from our nation's capitol. join the conversation at any time. give us a call at 8 sys 6-55-press. that is our toll-free number. we are also alive in the twitter world. @bp show or on facebook facebook.com/bill press show. on the website bill press show you will find today a beautiful photograph of, i must say so myself, of mr. and mrs. press with mr. and mrs. obama at the whitehouse last week. just got the photo yesterday. take a look. it's very festive. also, my latest column about justice scalia and why he ought to step down and recues himself from any consideration of the same-sex marriage case before

the supreme court based upon some of the things he has said homo sexuality. the full court press today brought to you by uli. co, incorporated, proudly serving the union workplace under president ed smith providing specialty insurance, risk solutions investment products and services j for jobs. to find out more visit their website at ulico, ullico.com, or you can just ask president ed smith. here he is? >> hey, bill. >> hi, ed. nice to see you? >> nice to see you. >> merry christmas. happy holidays. >> same to you. >> the whole team, peter ogburn and dan henning. >> happy friday. >> happy friday is right >> bill: sipcyprian boulding has cameras. phil bachus has the phones. it's a busy time? >> yes, it is. yes, it is. >> we have been talking a lot this morning about the fiscal

cliff, about susan rice wanted to talk michigan particularly. >> sure. >> with you. and going into the -- you know everybody was saying at the whitehouse yesterday well gosh, you know, well, are they going to solve this fiscal cliff? am i going to have to cancel all of my travel plans for christmas? you know what i told them? i don't care what they do. i am going to california. if they are dumb enough to want to work between christmas and new year's, shame on them. be my guest. >> right bill we will get into that and a whole lot more i want to talk about michigan, what happened and what we can do to turn that around. molly ball from the "atlantic" will join us with her take on susan rice and on john kerry but first. >> other headlines making news senate ben nelson spoke out about his famous hair yesterday

after harry readed commented on it saying how amazing the mop of real hair was. the retiring democrat joked around saying i think he has taken it for real. he never tested my hair. harry says such funny things, he amazes and amuses me. maybe it is a wig. >> mine is real. peter >> peter: this is all real. >> mine is long gone. >> that's not a toupee? >> if it is, i didn't get my money's worth. >> award nomination season continues in hollywood the biggest nominations to date were announced yesterday for the golden globes, boardwalk entire downtown abby and the newsroom nominated comedy modern family a returning favorite big bang theory, girls and smash.

noticeabley ab 70 from the top t.v. nominees? >> married with children. >> yes. married with children. not there this year. shocking. and mad men also not nominated this year. >> there is a lot of criticism for mad men this year. not everybody loved it. >> no. >> bill: that west virginia thing. what's it called? >> buck wild. >> buck wild. >> jersey shore. >> a new study on life expectancy gives us good news and bad news. on the whole, we are living much longer, but with longer lives come more diseases and disabilities. a university of washington reports vaccines have now saved the lives of millions more people over the last 20 years since the last time they did this study in 1990. as a result, people are living longer but more suffering from bone and joint problems basically out living them and more mental health issues as well. >> bill: you can't win for losing? >> i am telling you, man. >> bill: you live longer and your knees go. >> that's right.

>> bill: you know, i don't know about you. i know more people who have new knees, new highland parks? >> sure. >> new body parts. >> the group industry. >> bill: i think it is. a new transmission in. ? >> that's right >> bill: put another 100,000 miles on these knees. ed, you and i have talked earlier about be -- let's talk about a couple of issues affecting working families, whether you are in michigan or not, people have to be concerned about what happened with this right-to-work. it's bad news. >> it could not be more troubling. you take michigan as such a strong labor state and the united workers' history. one thing, every other union has a great presence in michigan for this to happen and the way it happened, the koch brothers

devoss and the stealth attack flooding with millions of dollars, this assault on workers, you know, and then the whole confusion about the name "right to work" that is a general public doesn't understand. it sounds good. they have used that. you know, shame on us we don't have a better term. but it's a real travesty. why all of the billionaires are always looking after workers' interests and people don't see through that because that's always behind this. the national right to work committee, which has been around since the '50s they were pioneers on never disclosing their money. and to this day. the national right to work committee which is right down here in virginia you know has been around and financed, you

know, by corporations and business on the attack on workers. you know, since the '50s. go back in history. taft-heartley that passed over president truman's veto allowed right to work laws. and prior to that, you didn't have right to work laws. the railway labor act does not have workers. they are all in the union. >> what it means the president says, it's the right to free load and the right to work for less. >> every statistic shows when you take the power away from workers and the only voice workers have are through their unions. when you take their voice away through their unions, you know, any parity at all if there was any way to get parity at the bargaining table e vap rates. the fact that one worker can go in and sit down with the koch

brothers, you know, just such a joke. it's really a travesty. the other thing confusing people, don't understand, to actually get a union shop contract is voted by the workers. management actually has to agree to a union shop. then the workers have to ratify. there are so many steps. them on top of that if the worker still doesn't want to be in the union, he has his beck rights, the supreme court decision he sdenlt have to. he has his religious objections. he cannot be forced to or compelled to be in in a union. doesn't have to. he has his religious objections. he cannot be forced to or compelled to be in in a union. the union is compelled to represent the worker, if the worker is fired or terminated the union spends thousands of dollars of the other union's money, that worker doesn't pay a nickel. you think republicans would not applaud free loaders.

>> that's kind of what you have in that situation >> bill: the president pointed out it's political, the support they give the democratic candidates. if they want support from unions unions, look at arlen specter. work for the jobs bill. democrats will support republicans. unions will sport republicans? >> absolutely. jorn meaney said, you know, the labor is active in the democrat party and the labor doesn't run the democrat party and the democrat party doesn't run labor. labor has been very associated with the democrat party because that's where legislators and congress people have been sympathetic to workers. where republicans have been, they have gotten the support from labor. >> bill: yeah.

>> and vice versa. historically, when the south was all democratic they were very anti-union, you know, because they were, you know, the republicans of the day. >> let me ask you: are you concerned as one of our countries great labor leaders, are you concerned that what happened in michigan doesn't stop in michigan? >> fueled momentum, bill. you have this click off the list being talked about, missouri. you go down to pennsylvania they have talked about. you just keep going. keep going to the different states. this thing is going to take a life of its own. >> other governors will be trying to do what rick snyder was talking about? >> no. it bills. we have to take that to every state legislate and governor and make sure we stop this in its

tracks. >> ed smith from ullico. on michigan, chime in 866-55-press. you see us heading your way in some other state. maybe in you are in michigan tell us your talk in what's going on there. there is something that did hasn't gotten enough attention. this tragedy in bangladesh in this garment factory and this big fire. i think there were 112 workers. it kills out there are a lot of american businesses or a couple who were buying products and they knew about the working conditions. right? >> absolutely. you know. >> who was the big offender? >> wal-mart where they are making the garment did for wal-mart in the factory in bangladesh, over 112 workers killed. the "new york times" ran a picture last week where they laid each of those bodies out as

a most horrific picture. as we have globalization and one of the things that workers and unions in america are blamed well, our wages are too high, our working conditions our benefits are too great. all of those things so we are forced to go to language la and find really cousin that would allow for those workers to be killed. if we go back and read our history, the triangle shirt waist factory in new york, you know 100 years ago that killed over 100 garment workers. hit replace itself again. if you look at the same arguments they are using on right to work, all of those things, you know, you just follow the pattern, and history

repeats itself about oppression of workers. this thing let's face it. let's tie it in to michigan when the auto workers organize the auto industry and when you and i grew up general motors was the largest employer in america. we are in a different world but because those were union jobs those workers could support their their families, buy a home, had a good healthcare had a pension at the end of the day. fast forward and we have wal-mart, the largest employer in the world that refuses to allow one of its employees to be under a collective bargaining agreement. this is america. tonight able to form a union. you multiply that toward the investigation of this company about bribery in mexico bribery in indiana and look at these --

in i needia. where the doors were locked, where workers were told when they went to the escape to get back to work and you look at what's going on. this has to stop. we have to say we cannot allow this to happen. >> you know, everybody seems to be afraid to take on wal-mart because, you know, they are so big and then they give so much money to members of congress particularly republican members. ed smith in studio with us join the conversation at 866-55-press, the friday edition of the "full-court press." >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ]

[ music ] >> this is "the bill press show" >> bill: here we go ed smith is the president of ullico he is in studio with us. molly ball from the "atlantic" joins us ahead. ed i want to ask you but first mike is calling from hillsdale county michigan what do you say? >> hill 0, bill. thank god for current tv >> bill: all right. go for it. >> i am a 40-year teamster retiree and i am sick ended by this and i have done some research on some of the senators that voted for the right to work for less, and i found that some of them belong to labor unions. one particularly is a schoolteacher. it's sickening that this would happen. and i can't understand they want

to raise the taxes. whoever are they coming from from these low-paying jobs? >> good point, mike. he touches on something. there are amount of union voters that voted for nick snyder? >> that's allegation the indicates. we have, unfortunately we have members that we haven't educated and told them they don't make the connection. the vast vast majority of union members do get it. if you look at all of the demographics, look at white males, you and i white male union members vote for president obama. >> let me jump in, ullico, you are up to good stuff, creating new jobs? >> i was in minneapolis a couple of weeks ago the oldest labor

investment prac is and how it works, not to get in the weeds a fixed income fund that has solid labor lang. we have created over half a billion hours of work for union building trades workers over its history. we did a project in minneapolis where we created over 1,000 union jobs in minneapolis. >> bill: wow? >> we did the union there all of those jobs are full wages and benefits. all of those jobs had full family healthcare for every one of those workers. all of those workers have a pension at the end of the day. remember pensions? >> that's right. they all go through their tremendous training apresent ship program, over 1,000 jobs created. we are very excited about that.

and crating jobs for members >> bill: if only rick snyder were working with you instead of shutting them down. thank you for coming in. happy ho holidays. >> thanks. this is "the bill press show." nobody knows disasters like comedians. >> new york, the high-tech resilient city. just don't get us wet. what the hell was that? >> that's from my upcoming benefit for victims of hurricane sandy. i booked the strongest, smartest comics i could find. my comedian friends and i will raise money to rebuild homes and lives one laugh at a time. >> awe damn, the lights are out! you know what? i'll watch a little television until they come back on. >> only on current tv.

[ music ] >> on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> here we go, 33 minutes after the hour the full court press on friday december 14th, big story of the day of course

susan rice reportedly telling president obama she had made the decision to have her name withdrawn from consideration of secretary of state she is out of the running. it looks like it clears the path for senator john kerry. dominoes here, it looks like in our nation's capitol. she covers politics for the atlantic, molly ball. nice to see you again. you haven't been in in a while. >> it's been too long. >> we were together in charleston south carolina. remember? >> right. early in the morning in an empty convention center. supposed to be full of republicans. >> a primary there. now, they have a vacancy in the united states senate and nikki haley won't appoint steven

colbert. >> phenomenal. >> that crowd, herman cain walking in with herman cain? >> bringing the nation together. he had so much hope on that day. didn't we? that was when we knew it was all going to be okay. . >> all right. and now, dashing all of our hopes. so the big question about susan rice: did she jump or was she pushed off of the cliff? >> i think it's a combination. i don't think she was strong armed. her statement makes sure she wasn't kicking and screaming but it doesn't sound like the president tried very hard to fight her. there may have been some pressure behind the scenes. i think this was a fight that the both sides were realizing they didn't want. republicans realizing it was going to look bad for them. but the white house also realizing that the other side was pretty dug-in didn't have a way out of this and they could save that political capitol for some of the other policies. >> that seems to be the

calculation. we could probably win. harry reid, dick durbin said they could win but it would take a long time. and there would be some blood shed. >> wouldn't be an easy win. >> there would be blood shed along the way. and it would be a tremendous political cost. but the question is: isn't that -- some fights are worth fighting. right? even if you are not going to win to make the case that i've got a right as president to name my cabinet? right? she is a good person. she will make a great secretary of state. so i am going to go to the wall even if i don't win but they decided not to on this one? >> true. there are some fights worth fighting. they seemed to have concluded on the scale of fights worth fighting, this didn't rise to the top >> bill: here is my take. they have obviously decided, i think, that immigration reform now that's worth fighting for. global warming, that's going to be worth fighting for once we get the fiscal cliff behind us. right?

i think it will be tougher to win those battles because they gave in on susan rice? >> that's possible. it's possible the other side sort of smells weakness. >> exactly. >> sees they can pull this begin and, you know, there is sort of like a alpha dog thing where you establish your domnence early on. >> that's one theory but, you know are i think susan rice had tried to go to the hill an make peace with these senators and there were signs that they were somewhat -- they were opening their minds to her. you had mccain even starting to say that maybe she shouldn't be the target of this scandal that they have determined is going on. and she only seems to have made things worse, you know. and 7 susan collins who i think the administration did not regard as someone who was determined to oppose them politically who didn't come out of that meeting with susan rice feeling like any of her doubts had been asuaged. so she wasn't getting the job done in terms of the diplomacy.

>> it's clear lined see graham and john mccain were using susan rice to club obama with benghazi. they made her the political football. their target was obama, his weakness, they wanted to make the case. don't look at osama bin laden or mauresmo gadaffi. >> we have been getting comments treating at bp shove. you can find us there. madeline albright has come out and talked about this now. madeline albright was mentor of susan rice. >> did she tweet us? >> she didn't tweet us but she has spoken about. susan rice's decision was sad and highlights the disfunction of washington, d.c. can't really argue with that. patricia says the saddest thing about the susan rice is it is a

mccain, snow, ayotte and graham creation. >> i hate to see the badgood guys lose and the bad guys win. before we talk about justice scalia, what this means most likely is john kerry is the next secretary of state. wouldn't you agree? >> i think so. he is the odds-on favorite. >> bill: for president obama not to appoint him now would be awful -- >> he had some setbacks in his career but that would be a tough one to swallow. one person who was definitely benefited from all of this is that every time these senators wanted to say how unacceptable susan rice was but we would confirm john kerry in an instant. they are on the record and he should sail on through. >> that may bem resolve one problem for president obama and then the secretary much defense,

to talk about chuck hagle or this woman. peter? >> i forgot her name. you said it. >> bill: i did, too. >> the music has started. the chairs are moving. however it goes. >> bill: exactly. my latest column is up on someways billpressshow.com. it has to do with justice scalia who has said some horrible things even as recently as this week about homo sexuality saying if we can't have hard feelings about homo sexuality, how how can how can we have feelings about murder, for example? does he have any business ruling on the same-sex marriage issue before the court? hasn't his mind been made up? >> i don't think justice scalia is a swing vote but that wasn't news. when he made those comments, he

was restating almost word for word his dissent in the 2003 case on sodomy laws. so, you know, there is a lot of trepidation in the gay community about how these arguments right-hand side and decisions going to go now that the supreme court has in an unpress dented move taken these marriage equality cases but i don't think that nervousness focus on which way scal eia is going to flip. >> who does it focus on? >> potentially, kennedy, although he has issued some pretty strong -- >> bill: he wrote the decision. >> in lawrence and he's known to be sort of a libertarian. so there is some feeling that if he is the swing vote and he tends to be things could go is their way. there are the two cases there is the defense of marriage act case. they feel aboutgood about that. the appel at that time court decisions have all or almost all gone against the

constitutionality of the defense of marriage act. the administration isn't even defending it anymore. >> bill: right. >> then there is the prop 8 case. here, there are a few different options as you probably know. they could -- they could rule that gay marriage does not have to be accepted anywhere. they could say it's the law of the land but it's unconstitutional or the safe middle ground, a decision that applies only to california and even a lot of proceed-marriage activists think that might be the best way just because it might be too soon for a sort of row v wade. decision that gets ahead of where the country is and over turns 30-something state laws. >> back to who could be the swing here, do you think john roberts is automatically a no vote on same-sex marriage?

or might be? >> no. i don't. and this is not something i know a huge amount about. but, you know, i think we saw in the healthcare case that roberts is someone who is concerned with his legacy and is going to be on the court for several decades more and doesn't want to be on the wrong side of history. and even has a sort of poorly documented but is rumored to very long a record of being in favor of gay rates. so we will -- gay rights but we will see something from the argument. >> it would be great if this were a 6-3 decision, for example, rather than a 5-4. >> uh-huh. >> which can could very well be. of great historical sig signifcancer, the two cases one in front of the supreme court. they would rule different? >> absolutely. >> about at the same? >> probably the same time. i think they are separate cases. >> all right. molly ball, our guest here on the "full-court press" this friday. molly, you've also written recently in "the atlantic,"

sorry, democrats four ways that progressives are about to have their hopes dashed. don't tell me we are going to have our hopes dashed. i don't want to hear it, but we will when we come back from this break here on the full court press. >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show." ♪ ♪ >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> she's joy behar. ... and current will let me say anything. >> only on current tv. [ piano plays ] troy polamalu's going deeper. ♪ ♪ and so is head & shoulders deep clean. [ male announcer ] with 7 benefits it goes deep to remove grease, gunk and flakes. deep. like me. [ male announcer ] head & shoulders deep clean for men. ♪ ♪ where you don't back down from

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alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but

i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. >> announcer: this is the "bill >> chatting with you live at current.com/billpress, this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. >> at 13 missed before the top of the hour on trans friday

december 14th, molly ball in studio with us talking about the issues of the day here and particularly susan rice marriage equality justice scalia, all kinds of fun. but, you know, on fridays, every friday, thanks to granger, we sol ute somebody who gets the job done. this week, we reach out to all of the artists who participated in the 12-12-12 concert at madison square garden to raise money for the victims of hundred sandy. they did a great, great job. ♪ >> bill: there we go. the rolling stones. bruce springsteen >> peter: pink floyd, paul mccartney >> bill: bill lee crystal was the host. a ton of money. we salute those artists. with ganger, call granger, click on granger.com or stop by one of

their branches. granger, for the ones who get things done. sgfrnlths. >> a couple of pete twitting wheezy says al gore is fully qualified to be secretary of state. he is well-known around the world. hear that, boss? and michael semes writes to say i listen to your show every morning because it makes my blood boil. whatever works now michael. >> bill: glad to be there for you. >> tweeting at bpshow. find us there. >> we were talking marriage equality. we want to get the whole take on the american equality issue from every angle including the role of justice scalia goes to the atlantic.com and look for "the marriage plot ". >> this was a big story i spent a couple of months reporting. i think it's really a moving and human story about how far this issue has come and how they won the victories. >> bill: it rallies has moved

dramatically in the political world, things that took decades, this has been maybe one decade? >> high-speed social change. you look at the polling in 1996, 27% of americans supported it t now, it's up to 53. >> bill: wow. >> quantum leap >> bill: and nine states and the district of columbia who recognize same-sex marriage. >> we tweeted out a link to that if you want to find it. it's @bpshow. >> everybody read it. thank you. >> bill: what is this? you are saying we progressives -- i am a proud liberal. we are about to have our hopes dashed in four different ways. >> i'm sorry. i hate to break it to you. >> bill: how? how? how? one at a time. >> well, i think there are a few different areas where there are some very high hopes coming out of the election. >> bill: yeah. >> understandably so. it was a great election

>> bill: elizabeth warren got elected. >> that's one things. there is a lot of excitement but she is coming in as a freshman senator. she got the banking committee but she is the lowest-ranking person on the panel, at the end of the diaiz. if she is smart she will do what other superstars have come in like hillary clinton, barack obama. she won't take make too much noise >> bill: al franken? >> the proverbial workhorse not a show horse. this idea she is going to immediately bring the banks and corporations to their knees upon ascending capitol hill i think is a little unrealistic >> bill: you mentioned entitlement reform. to be honest, that's one i am afraid of? >> yeah. >> bill: because i am afraid that may be the price to pay for having taxes go up on the wealthiest americans. it should not be but it may be. >> two surprised, tax rates for

the top two % and the other is protecting medicare and social security. you have had a lot of very strong, tough talks from the president on those tax rates. >> that's very gratifying to the people on the left. you don't overhear that same kind of tough talk when it comes to medicare and social security because those things are on the table. >> bill: you hear more about social security being off of the table. >> i think it's medicare that's really in danger there. >> bill: filibuster reform you are telling me we are not going to get it? >> if it happens, it will be something that will be a very minor change. whether or not you consider it cosmetic, i guess, depends upon your point of view. the filibuster isn't going anywhere. nobody is going to end the filibuster. i think the most harry reid is considering is ending filibusters on motions to proceed. that procedural step and even that is a pretty heavy lift, a hard thing to do. i don't think his willingness to use the so-called nuclear

option, i don't think that's guaranteed. >> bill: climate change? no. we are going to get climate change legislation? >> no, you are not. even the environmentalists i spoke to don't think this is going to happen at least not with this congress. the priority when it comes to this inenvironment is abolishing the epa, not strengthening it. so the environmental activists who work on this issue, their priority is working through the executive branch, getting the epa to regulate power plants, for example, in the way that they did with fuel economy standards in obama's first term. that is the main hope of environmentalists, not that you will see any major legislation. >> bill: i hope you are wrong about all four. okay. >> i am sure you do. i am sure you do. >> bill: i am going to do everything i can to make sure you are wrong about all four? >> i will come on here and talk about it. i promise >> bill: molly ball you are invited back any time?

>> thanks >> bill: a great holiday. i will be back as always i saved the last word for me. my parting shot coming up next. >> "the bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. [ music ]

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the troops love me. we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. [ music ] the parting shot with bill press, this is "the bill press show." >> bill: hey, on this friday december 14th, my parting shot for today, you know, i think it's a triple shot of sadness that susan rice took her name out of consideration for secretary of state. first because she would have made a great secretary. now, sadly she will never have

the chance. sad, also because she was shot down brutally by two big-mouth republican senators, lindsey graham and john mccain who were only using her to try to blame president obama for what happened at benghazi. sad, most of all because president obama decided she wasn't worth the fight. i believe that was a big mistake. look i know. you can't win every battle. i know you have to pick your political battles. i know there may not have been enough votes to confirm her, although i am not convinced of that. but still, some battles, i believe, are worth fighting for. and this was one of them worth fighting for the principle that a president should be able to pick members of his own cabinet and worth fighting to defend the honor of susan rice. you know, in my book, it's better to fight and lose than not fight at all. >> that's my parting shot for today, folks.

igor tholsky from think progress will be here on monday with us. you enjoy it, have a great weekend, relax, refresh yourself and your batteries and come back and see us right here on monday. >> this is "the bill press show." .